You always remember your first time...
C. McCoy
The first time I can remember watching a silent film was when I was
little and my parents were vacationing in Mexico. I hated it. I even
hated the tv. There was nothing worse than the Flintstones dubbed in
spanish (at least to a 9 year old). Then I saw it! It was a silent
movie with english subtitiles! The mexican government was so cheap
(Thank god) that it didn't replace the titles with spanish ones, it just
superimposed them under the english. I was saved! I watched the whole
thing (it was a baseball story, can't remember which one, and I have
never seen it again) and watched another one the next day. I guess they
were having a festival.
I didn't have the chance to see another silent for almost 10 years,
but I do beleive that this is how I got hooked.
How 'bout you?
bu...@home.com
When I was a kid in the early fifties there was a Paul Kiliam show
called "Movie Museum" that was shown during the early afternoon (this
took place during summer vacation). I think this may have been my first
exposure to silent films, and I was fascinated. I was especially
excited when "Hunchback of Notre Dame" was scheduled to be shown in
three installments (probably running a total of 40 minutes or so).
These were legendary films that I had heard people talking about but had
never seen.
The day that part two was to be shown an older cousin invited me to go
to the beach. I politely declined (the beach instead of Lon Chaney?
are they nuts?). Well, my mother forced me to go, thinking it unhealthy
to stay inside and watch stupid movies (she was probably right - but I
still remember the tears!).
-Rich
Tracy Doyle
C. McCoy wrote:
> The first time I can remember watching a silent film was when I was
> little and my parents were vacationing in Mexico...
> How 'bout you?
I was about 7 years old (I'm 38 now). Our Chicago public television
station, WTTW, ran a weekly silent film feature program called "The Toy
That Grew Up." I don't recall the title of the first film I saw on this
show, but I do remember that it starred Charlie Chaplin. By the time I
was in 3rd grade I had started a "Charlie Chaplin Club" at school. (I
still have the records - minutes, activities, etc.) Our public library
had some silent films in Super 8 format, and I remember our little club
members going there to view them on their projector.
I also recall seeing "Phantom of the Opera" of this show. I had
nightmares for weeks! Once, when I got in trouble, my mother barred me
from watching television for two weeks. I made such a stink about
missing "Toy That Grew Up" that she acquiesced and allowed me to watch
only that show.
Guess I was one weird kid.
Tracy Doyle
(To respond via e-mail, remove *NOSPAM* from address.)
David M. Arnold
When I was in high school (in the mid '60's), my younger
brother, who is somewhat of a keyboard prodigy, got interested
in silent film. We had an old 8mm projector, and my brother
had a small collection of silent films on 8mm (remember
Blackhawk?). He would show them and accompany them on the
organ (my folks had bought him a small Hammond electronic
"theatre" organ). He had belonged to a cinephile society
and had attended showings of silent films accompanied by a
local organist who had been active in silent theatres during
the '20s, so he kinda knew what he was doing, or trying to do.
Unfortuately, as he grew up he grew away from the silent films.
Fast forward to the late 70's, and I got my first job, working
for a chemical company that was doing fire testing of flame-
retarded building materials. Their test setup included a
closed-circuit viewing theatre featuring an Advent Videobeam
projection TV system. As soon as I saw it, I vowed to someday
put together a home screening room based on video projection
technology.
That "someday" occurred about 2 years ago, when I made my
first major Web-based purchase of a used Sony video projector.
(Those who call the Internet the Information Superhighway are
wrong. It's more like an Electronic Roman Forum. Over here
are some guys discussing politics; over there are the street
vendors; down this alley are the flesh merchants. It'd be
fine except for all the squawking chickens.) The video
projector got me involved in "Home Theatre".
It seems to most electronics vendors that "Home Theatre"
means "Big Sound". To me, it means "Big Picture". My
Home Theatre has a 105" (nearly 9-foot) diagonal screen,
and viewing a film is very much like a real theatrical
experience.
As I started to build a film library, I re-discovered
silents for an important reason: These films tell a story
with PICTURES. It seems many recent films tell their
story with SOUND, and the pictures are secondary. All the
better for the TV market I suppose.
Since my taste is rather eclectic (I like just about anything
good), I have included a number of silents, especially German
Expressionists, in my film library; along with sound films by
directors who know how to use the visual medium (e.g. Hitchcock).
I wouldn't say I'm a hard-core silent film fan, just a general
film enthusiast who thinks silents are an important part of
a well-rounded collection.
--
--------------------------------------------------------------
David M. Arnold dar...@Xexecpc.com
To reply, replace "Xexecpc" with "execpc".
--------------------------------------------------------------
ChaneyFan
My first couple of silents were on TV around 1970 when the local PBS station
ran the Killiam series. THE GOLD RUSH and THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME were the
first two I remember, although I probably spent most of the time necking with
my girlfriend, so the movie wasn't my primary interest!
================
Jon Mirsalis
Chan...@aol.com
http://www.sri.com/biopharm/misc/jonfilm.htm
Lon Chaney Home Page: http://members.aol.com/ChaneyFan
DSPB
The first thing I remember seeing was one of those Killiam
compilations (probably "Slapstick")on television when I was only 5 or
so (which woulda been-my God-1966)...
I remember seeing Youngson's "Further Perils of Laurel & Hardy" in a
theatre in about 1968...
By the way, Tracy, I also remember "The Toy That Grew Up"...it was
the last program on Friday nights onthat new-fangled UHF station in
town when it started up in the mid 60s...I can never hear the guy
singing "You made me what I am today, I hope you're satisfied..." in
the Laurel & Hardy film "Blotto" without thinking of that show.
-Unka Denny
"Excuse me a minute, my ear is full of milk..."
-Oliver Hardy
MooveeLovr
My first exposure to silents was when I was a little kid in the 50's, stuck on
the couch because my bratty sister wanted to see if a rat tail comb would go
all the way through my head. I watched just about every thing that came on the
tube to keep the boredom away. Our local station showed Keystone Kops every day
in the afternoon. And Keaton and Chaplin. I was hooked. I was glad when I got
the measles and the mumps, more time on the couch! That's also when I fell in
love with the Three Stoges, but that's another NG entirely.
Mary
Stan16mm
I believe that my consciously viewing silent film for the first time was
watching "THE BANK" with Chaplin and it was part of a show hosted by Herb Graff
on PBS. After that, I religiously watched each day.
~~~~~~~~
Stan16mm
~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Catch me on MAKE ME LAUGH on Comedy Central Feb.9th 6:30 &
10:30 PM and again on Valentine's Day at 10:00AM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Christopher Bird
Odly enough, the first complete film (as oppposed to the snippets of TV I
must have been exosed to before) I can remember seeing was `The Phantom of
the Opera', the Killiam version, when I was five. I recall the magic of
the tinting and the music, so refreshingly UNrealistic and beautiful. I
didn't see another tinted film until I saw `Metropolis' (Moroder version)
when I was fifteen.
I didn't see `Phantom' again for years, though for some reason, `He had no
nose!' really stuck in my mind, and I had bad deja vu when I saw it again.
--
Christopher Bird St. Anne's College
President Oxford OX2 6HS
Oxford University Film Foundation Tel. 01865 511451
Kathy O'Connell
My first exposure to silent film of any kind (outside of "Fractured
Flickers") was "Harold Lloyd's World of Comedy." My mother took us when
I was 9, and she & my grandmother explained there was a lot more where
that came from.
A couple of years later, on Thanksgiving, my best friend's father made us
watch some Chaplin. "You'll enjoy this." We didn't. We wanted to go
upstairs and listen to Beatles records, which we did after just one short.
Took a long time and a bit of coaxing, but attending last year's Cinecon
finally hooked me.
See you all at Cinefest.
Bruce Calvert
I was about twelve in the early seventies when I found a catalog that sold
Super 8mm movies. My dad already had a silent movie projector for our home
movies, so I ordered a film. It was a fifty-foot (3 minute) film called
"Criminals at Large" with Laurel and Hardy (from Atlas films). I later
discovered that it was an excerpt from "Liberty" (1929).
Soon after that, I found a Blackhawk films catalog and I was hooked. Even
when I saved my money and bought a Super 8mm sound projector, I still
collected silents (with music now). By high school, I had a 16mm
projector. The 16mm films cost a lot more, but I could show them to large
audiences at church, and later at college.
When I was in college, Blackhawk seemed to switch to video. Later, I heard
that it went out of business because the founders died. I'm glad that
David Shephard's Film Preservation Associates has continued distributing
them.
I don't have a room left in my house that I can use for showing movies, but
I have lots of silent laserdiscs. (My wife thinks I'm crazy!). I still
have all of my old Blackhawk films, and all of my Blackhawk bulletins too.
Robert Birchard
Probably the first silent films I saw were on TV on "Howdy Doody"
ca. 1953 when I was three. Silent comedies were a staple of early TV on
such programs as "Uncle Johnny Coons" and "Lunch With Soupy Sales." My
mother took me to see "When Comedy Was King" in a theater when it was
first released.
My parents both remembered silent films, but were not terribly
nostalgic over them, and I probably felt that all silent films were
two-reel comedies.
In 1957 when "Man of a Thousand Faces" was released there was an
article in Life magazine that compared the original Chaney make-ups with
the Cagney versions. I saw that at the neighbor's house across the
street and managed to talk them out of the issue and saved it for years.
(We subscribed to the "Saturday Evening Post"--my parents being
suspicious that all those pictures in "Life" represented a rather
insubstantial investment for their subscription dollar when compared to
all the writing in the "Post")
I probably first became aware that there was more to silent film
than comedy when I saw the 1961 Wolper TV special "Hollywood--The Golden
Years." I was intrigued with the clips, started reading, cutting out
newspaper articles (sadly mostly obituaries), and very shortly
thereafter--I believe the show aired in October and this would have been
December, 1961 or January, 1962--I heard about the Silent Movie Theater
and persuaded my mom to drive me to see "The King of Kings."
It was everything I imagined it would be--and soon I saw "The Birth
of a Nation," "Intolerance," "Robin Hood," "The Three Musketeers,"
"Tol'able David," "Son of the Sheik," and others at John and Dorothy
Hampton's theater.
A fan letter to Edward Wagenknecht (after reading his "The Movies
in the Age of Innocence"--still one of the best books about silent film)
brought a reply that also mentioned ". . . did you know you can buy
prints . . . from Blackhawk Films in Davenport, Iowa?" Well, that was
it. I promptly gave up on Chubby Checker and the Twist and have been in
the dark (watching movies) ever since.
--
Bob Birchard
bbir...@earthlink.net
http://www.mdle.com/ClassicFilms/Guest/birchard.htm
David B. Pearson
The first silents I ever saw were Modern Times and City Lights in 1973.
They'd just re-released the films after Chaplin had gotten the Academy
Award.
I saw it in Kenner, Louisiana - one of the most conservative areas in
the country.
One showing... and I was the only one in the theatre.
David B. Pearson
Arbucklemania
http://www.uno.edu/~drcom/Arbuckle
Constance Kuriyama
Actually I completely forgot my first time for many years,
and only remembered it some time after I began to take a
serious interest in silents about seven years ago.
It was a re-release of _City Lights_. I was under ten,
and was taken by my mother, who had a nostalgic urge to
see a Chaplin film again. I loved it.
I was exposed to quite a few silents in a college film course.
I liked them, but didn't take great interest until much later.
By the way, Tracy, if you're still a Chaplin fan, you're
welcome to drop in on alt.movies.chaplin, where you'll find
plenty of company. If your server doesn't carry it (most do now),
ask for it.
Connie K.
FIREZINE
Now that I think of it. The first silent film I remember seeing was "A
Trip To The Moon" shown on The Wonderful World Of Disney.
David Mullen
When I was in film school, a friend insisted that I watch Buster Keaton's
short "The Boat" - I saw a bad video copy of it and was impressed enough to go
out to the Silent Movie a few months later.
I saw "The Navigator" and laughed so hard during one scene (involving the
scary portrait of the sea captain that swings back and forth in Buster's
window) that I thought I was going to choke or have a heart attack. I was
hooked after that...
I can't think of any sound comedy that has made me laugh as much as the great
silent ones do.
David M.
Musei
FThomp1065 wrote:
>
> I guess I don't have to tell anybody which lost films I would most like to see.
> There's a list of 27 of them somewhere...
>
> But as to my first exposure to silent film. Ah, that's a long and quite dull
> story.
>
> When I was 12 years old I happened to see Wellman's "Beau Geste" on television,
> one Sunday afternoon. I was completely ethralled. My mother came strolling
> through the room, watched for a few minutes and said, "I think this is based on
> a book."
>
> Next morning I ran to my junior high school library and -- eureka! -- there was
> indeed a copy of "Beau Geste." And "Beau Sabreur" and "Beau Ideal." And the
> first two were illustrated with movie stills. I eagerly took them all home,
> read them in record time and spent hours poring over the pictures. However, it
> didn't take long for me to realize that this wasn't the "Beau Geste" that I had
> seen. It was the silent version with Ronald Colman.
>
> From then on I haunted every library in the area, reading every book on silent
> films I could find. Between you and me and the gatepost, all I wanted was more
> pictures from "Beau Geste." But other stills started attracting my attention (I
> remember falling quite in love with Marguerite Clark from that portrait in "An
> Illustrated History of the Silent Screen"). then I found out that our local
> library had dozens of 8mm and 16mm films -- all silent. I had never considered
> that I could actually show movies in my own home (this is 1965) and so I
> systematically checked out every one. Chaplin, Keaton, "Milestones of the
> Cinema," Keystone Kops. By the time I was a teenager, I was thoroughly hooked.
>
> I went to college in Boston and, of course, there was a world of movies there
> that I'd never dreamed of. In no time I was seeing 35mm prints of "Miss Lulu
> Bett," "The Italian," "Metropolis" and tons of Griffith, Keaton, and on and on.
> Those first two remain among my dearest favorites.
>
> The tragedy is, I've never managaed to see the 1926 "Beau Geste." Not really,
> anyway. I bought an 8mm print of it in 1972 and I now have a lousy
> videocassette that's too heartbreaking to watch but too "Beau Geste" to throw
> away.
>
> So, of all silent films that exist, that's at the top of the list. Unless you
> count some of the Bettie Page shorts...
>
> Frank Thompson
You may already know that Beau Geste was released in Japan
on Laserdisc by a company called NEC Avenue (NALA-10055
\6,000 = approx. $55). While it's not stunning in quality,
it certainly doesn't rate with the worst by a long shot.
When I was in Tokyo last week, I still saw it in a couple
of stores. There are ways of ordering it from the US.
I think it is one of the best adventure silents ever. Of
course being a die-hard Colman fan I'm sure colors my
opinion.
Michael
FIREZINE
I lived in Cincinnati in the late 50's and early 60's and Bob Shreve had
an afternoon TV show where he showed Charlie Chaplin Shorts and some
silent Laurel and Hardys. Also silents were parodied on many TV shows
around that time and were shown with inserted sound effects and
narration.
The first full length silent film I saw wasn't a silent. It was the first
time they showed "Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman" on television and the
sound tube blew out on our set.
SRoweCanoe
Actually you don't allways remember, cause I sure don't..
dim recollections of a second cousin showing some films in the early 60s (we
visited him once - he was halfway accross the country). Didn't the Kinner
give-a-show projectors have some silent comedies? ETV - the SC PBS station
had film festivals in the late 60s early 70s, which included silents,
and went to the Durham(NC) mini-cons in late 60s and early 70s, where one of
the highlights was allways a silent movie. That I know was the first I'd seen
with an audience, even if it was in someone's attic.
Looking amazingly at you folks with the great memories...
Steven R
mack twamley
For me I think it was in the film library of the Museum of Modern Art in
NYC, first watching things like Great Train Robbery, the execution of Mary
Queen of Scots, perhaps Life of An American Fireman (or a title like it)
and finally THE WIND with Lillian Gish, all this in about 1945 or 46.
Also around that time a friend rented a 16mm print of Hunchback of Notre
Dame and we watched it at his parents' house. ah, how the years fly by.
FThomp1065
ChaneyFan
>>> I still have all of my old Blackhawk films, and all of my Blackhawk
bulletins too.
God, I saved these for years! It was only when I moved to California that I
had to get rid of them. I kept one representative catalog from about every 5
years (1965, 1970, 1975, 1980), but I had this 3' high stack of them at one
point. But I did tear out and save all the David Shepard Collector's Corner
(or something like that) where he gave advice on everything from how to store
your films to how to align your projection lamp!
Someone (David Pierce?) compiled a list once of every silent feature Blackhawk
ever released. That would be a fun list to post here. David, if I remember
correctly, do you still have this to post? If not, I might have it on disk
somewhere and can dig it out.
Robert Lipton
Alas! They showed the silent _Beau Geste_ at the Museum of Modern Art
in New York last month. Check their web page.
Bob
Karl A. Matz
INTERESTING how many people were ushered into appreciaton of silents by
Chaplin! As a Chaplin lover who was also led to other silents as a
result, I can only stand here in awe. Since Chaplin tried with all his
might to continue the silent film arts, I think he would be glad to know
this. I wonder how many of us would have found silent film if Chaplin's
films had not been preserved.
KARL
--
************************************
Karl A. Matz Ps 96:1-2
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Mankato State University Box 52
Mankato, MN
http://online.coled.mankato.msus.edu/dept/ci/Matz/Matz.html
*************************************
bu...@home.com
Musei wrote:
> You may already know that Beau Geste was released in Japan
> on Laserdisc >>>
I find it bizzarre and sad that other countries have more interest in
our film heritage than we do. Or are there economics involved which
make it cheap and painless to offer such discs in Japan and not here?
Rich
Michel S.
I was also first exposed to silents through Chaplin, in my case it was
elementary school showings of " The Tramp " and " One AM ".I also
remember seeing Keaton's " The General " in junior high. I knew who
other silent personalities were long before I had ever seen the
films.Chaney I knew from reading Famous Monsters.
RFCSAC627N
Although I remember watching silent films on tv when I was quite young, I
really became hooked on them when my grandparents gave me their old 16 mm
Kodascope projector for my ninth or tenth birthday in the mid-1950s (I wish I
still had it!).
They included a couples of reels of film that had come with the machine,
including a "sampler" of product available from Kodak and a travelogue of
Yosemite. I soon started buying 50 and 100 foot excerpts of films myself (they
sold for $1.75-$3) from Hollywood Film Enterprises, who had the rights to Hal
Roach and Disney films at the time. Granted, most of these were merely mute
versions of sound films. It wasn't until about 1960--when I discovered
Blackhawk Films--that I started getting the real thing...
Richard Carnahan
FThomp1065
>
>Alas! They showed the silent _Beau Geste_ at the Museum of Modern Art
>in New York last month. Check their web page.
Double Alas! I live in Los Angeles and probably couldn't have made the MOMA
screening even if I had known about it. But you'd think *somewhere* in L. A.
there would be a showing of this famous feature. Hmm? Wouldn't you? (Listening,
are you, Silent Society?)
Frank Thompson
Bob Tiernan
On 25 Jan 1998, Robert Lipton wrote:
> Alas! They showed the silent _Beau Geste_ at the Museum of
> Modern Art in New York last month.
I saw this in Portland, Oregon's Hollywood Theater on the
60th anniv of the opening of that theater in 86 (we almost
lost ot to a fire last year).
They were showing a batch of silents, with organist, but
when I went to see Beau Geste the organist had the night off
and we all watched it in complete silence, the sound of
celephane candy wrappers and chewing coming in loud and clear.
Bob T.
Moviephile
I grew up seeing the Phantom also, but I really liked Laurel & Hardy, the last
half of The Lost World and Edison's work.
I was lucky enough to see The Scar of Shame, Let Katie Do It, and Old Mother
Hubbard. Not to mention a lot of rare stuff too!
D.W. Atkinson
EckHarDT50
Add me to the list of those who first saw silents on the old Howdy Doody Show.
In my case it was about 1951, and Buffalo Bob showed an "old time movie" which
he claimed starred Hoda Honawinkle (I thought for years there was such an
actress). Actually, at age six, it was the piano music I liked the best, and
as I was studying piano at the time, I used to drive my poor parents crazy
playing godawful renderings of what I thought silent movie music was like.
Joe Eckhardt
Robert Birchard
FThomp1065 wrote:
>
> >
> >Alas! They showed the silent _Beau Geste_ at the Museum of Modern Art
>
> Double Alas! I live in Los Angeles and probably couldn't have made the MOMA
> screening even if I had known about it. But you'd think *somewhere* in L. A.
> there would be a showing of this famous feature. Hmm? Wouldn't you? (Listening,
> are you, Silent Society?)
>
> Frank Thompson
We've seen it. Why should we show it to you? Nya-na-nah-na-na!!!!
;-}
Seriously, though, it would be worth looking into as a future
screening possibility.
Rob Kozlowski
The first time I saw a movie sans sound was at the Ground Round Restaurant in
Westmont, Illinois. It was "The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case" without sound. I don't
rememmber if there were titles.
On a more legitimate note, I may have been 8 when I saw "The Phantom of The Opera"
and larry Semon's "The Wizard of Oz" on WTTW Channel 11 in Chicago on a Saturday
morning running back-back without any musical accompaniment at all! Every ten
minutes a subtitle would come up at the bottom of the screen advising viewers that
"This is a silent movie," presumably to keep anyone from believing they had
suddenly gone deaf. It was not a very effective introduction to silent film. I
was wondering at the time why there was no music.
My first positive experience was on the same station watching none other than the
greatest documentary I've ever seen: "Hollywood."
ROB
dnem...@sprynet.com
Someone (David Pierce?) compiled a list once of every silent feature Blackhawk
> ever released. That would be a fun list to post here. David, if I remember
> correctly, do you still have this to post? If not, I might have it on disk
> somewhere and can dig it out.
> ================
> Jon Mirsalis
Please do!
Darren
JimNeibaur
My first time was The Funny Manns and Comedy Capers. Then the Youngson
compilations. But those did inspire me to check out 8mm films from our library
and run them on my father's old home movie projector (and that led me to a film
collecting hobby that I still have nearly 30 years later).
So stuff like The Funny Manns did, in my case, lead to a more serious
appreciation for silent films
Jim
Vozhd
WPIX in New York used to make a habit of running "Days of Thrills and Laughter"
on Christmas Day, and I suppose that was my first exposure to silent film.
Youngson's compilations are a disturbing place to start, since there was always
this bleak, fatalistic tone to his nostalgia, with his occasional reminders of
how certain stars had fallen far from grace, or had died. I especially
remember the "The Fiddle and The Bow" segment from one of the other films, on
Laurel and Hardy, where the narrator (Youngson?) mentions Laurel receiving his
special Oscar or something but that, alas, Hardy was no longer able to hear the
applause. Grim stuff, that. I wonder if many movie cultists' obsession with
the more tragic personalities has its roots here. On the other hand, Youngson
made me a silent movie fan because he piqued my young historical interest as
well as my appreciation of silent slapstick. It's too bad his stuff isn't seen
much on TV anymore.
VO...@AOL.COM
courtesy of the THINK 3 INSTITUTE
http://members.aol.com/Vozhd/Think3.html
"Gangway you heelots!!!"
FThomp1065
Bob Birchard wrote, re. "Beau Geste":
> We've seen it. Why should we show it to you? Nya-na-nah-na-na!!!! :-}
>
>
Cruelty, thy name is Birchard.
FT
Lars Gunnar Lönnberg
I was introduced to silents at the age of five by my father who used to
rent a projector and old films from a local photographer. Most of the films
where French versions of Harold Lloyd movies from Film Office. Ah, those
were the days...I still remember Saturday mornings in the dark, bleak, cold
Swedish winter when my father ran the projector showing films like "Pour
l'amour the Jeanie" starring Harold LLoyd and Mildred Davies. Bless him, my
dear old father.
Lars Gunnar
Rodney Sauer
FThomp1065 wrote:
> >
> >Alas! They showed the silent _Beau Geste_ at the Museum of Modern
> Art
> >in New York last month. Check their web page.
>
> Double Alas! I live in Los Angeles and probably couldn't have made the
> MOMA
> screening even if I had known about it. But you'd think *somewhere* in
> L. A.
> there would be a showing of this famous feature. Hmm? Wouldn't you?
> (Listening,
> are you, Silent Society?)
>
> Frank Thompson
We'll be showing it this summer with our five-piece orchestra score if
you can make it to Colorado... it is the first feature I ever scored,
and it is still in my list of top five silent films. Let's say that I
had seen many silent films, and enjoyed them, but this was the first one
that really affected me. Add to that list "The Crowd" and "Four Horsemen
of the Apocalypse.
The first silent film Isaw was my own--a basic chase movie filmed in 8
mm using go carts, bicycles, and super-hero capes. Then an animated
picnic with self-serving furniture. Only several years ago, seeing early
trick films and early Keystones, did I realize that the film techniques
I was inventing were almost identical to those invented the first time
around. Some ideas are just there for picking, I guess.
Rodney Sauer
Bob Tiernan wrote:
> They were showing a batch of silents, with organist, but
> when I went to see Beau Geste the organist had the night off
> and we all watched it in complete silence, the sound of
> celephane candy wrappers and chewing coming in loud and clear.
This raises an interesting point that might be worth a new thread...
We showed the LOC 35-mm print at Denver's Paramount Theater last fall.
The bugle scenes are one of the trickiest bits in the repertoire to play
for, since the trumpet player in the pit needs to mimic the various
calls done on screen, and the actors are not musicians and are not
giving good clues ahead of time about when they will be breathing. And
this is not something that can just be ignored by playing different
music over the trumpet calls--in at least two instances they are key to
the film. (I can't imagine watching that "Taps" scene in silence!)
Our trumpet player was practicing with a video, and noticed that those
little white circle punches--the ones that let the projectionist know
about an upcoming reel change--seemed to be sprinkled through the
playing of Taps. He noticed that they could be used to tell when a
long-held note was about to end.
So question--could it be that these little visual cues were used not
only for projectionists but for the musicians? Was this unique to this
picture, or are there any other films that show an inordinate number of
these "reel change" markers? Might they have been tied to pieces in the
published cue sheet?
David Pierce
bu...@home.com wrote:
>
>
> I find it bizzarre and sad that other countries have more interest in
> our film heritage than we do. Or are there economics involved which
> make it cheap and painless to offer such discs in Japan and not here?
>
> Rich
The economics are that Japan has a 50 year
copyright term, which places all silent
films in the public domain. As a result,
they can release Beau Geste without permission
or paying a royalty (though that doesn't
seem to affect the price of the disc) to the
consumer.
However, it definitely affects the distributor's
access to good quality material, and virtually
assures that Paramount will never release the
film there.
David Pierce
Silent Film Sources
http://www.cinemaweb.com/silentfilm
Updates and news the first of every month
http://www.cinemaweb.com/silentfilm/monthly.htm
The Silent Film Bookshelf
http://www.cinemaweb.com/silentfilm/bookshelf
Rob Farr & Kathy Lipp-Farr
I was nine and my parents took me to see "Harold Lloyd's World of
Comedy". I remember that I was threatened with not going if I didn't
eat my cheese soup (God, is there really such a thing?). I gagged the
swill down, and we went to see the movie. I have no recollection of the
talkie sequences, but have vivid memories of the silents, particularly
the spider-in-the-pants bit in the "Hot Water" sequence (something a
9-year-old can particularly relish).
I've since seen hundreds of silent movies, but to this day I have never
eaten another drop of cheese soup!
Rob Farr
PS My 1-year-old son Nicholas has been exposed to silent movies since
birth. And no, we didn't have a 16mm projector in the delivery room.
Robert Birchard
Rodney Sauer wrote:
>
> So question--could it be that these little visual cues were used not
> only for projectionists but for the musicians? Was this unique to this
> picture, or are there any other films that show an inordinate number of
> these "reel change" markers? Might they have been tied to pieces in the
> published cue sheet?
Almost certainly not. The common practice for American silent
films in the late 1920's was to changeover on titles. One reel would
end with a title and the next would begin with the same title so
that the changeover was not seen. Start and changeover cues were not
commonly scribed into the negative until after the coming of sound.
Because it was not critical to have the projectors runnning strictly at
speed at the changeover points, silent film leaders were relatively
short and it was common to thread up on the first frame of picture (or
title).
Of course, there were exceptions to the title overlap changeovers,
and many local operators scribed their own cue marks on the prints. It
seems that once one projectionist marked a print no self-respecting
operator cold let it pass without also inscribing his own cues into the
print. Many surviving silents have multiple changeover cues all over
the frame as Dennis Atkinson noted.
James Roots
My first time? Well, she was cute with long brown hair, and --
Oh, sorry -- right question, wrong SIG.
Jim
Russ Walter
Lenona (Assistant to Russ Walter) speaking.
I lived my first six years on Wadsworth Terrace in Manhattan (near
Washington Heights and the Cloisters) and I saw many Charlie Chaplin
shorts. The one I remember most is the one in which he battles an
uncooperative fold-up bed and finally gives up and goes to sleep in the
bathtub. My first full-length silent movie, which I saw on TV, was
"Thief of Baghdad". It must have been after 1970, because I remember
being able to read the captions. My mother says we had cable TV
-surprise, I didn't know it existed back then.
Ken
Rob Kozlowski wrote:
>
> The first time I saw a movie sans sound was at the Ground Round Restaurant in
> Westmont, Illinois. It was "The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case" without sound. I don't
> rememmber if there were titles.
Wow! A sound film without the sound. Its presentations like this that
can turn off people to classic films.
The first non-accompanied silent film I saw with an audience was
Keaton's "Steamboat Bill, Jr." It was at Beloit College in Wisconsin
several years ago. The print was double sprocketed. The idiot
projectionist turned on the sound and we sat through the first few
minutes listening to the ratt-a-tatt-tatt noise of the sprockets until I
couldn't take it anymore and went back to the alleged projectionist and
asked him to turn off the sound. He said "that's the sound on the
film." I explained to this college genius that it was a SILENT movie
and to please turn off that awful noise. He was annoyed but turned off
the sound. Soon the audience got into the film and laughed and screamed
and had a good time. Keaton is so good that I guess he doesn't need
music.
> On a more legitimate note, I may have been 8 when I saw "The Phantom of The Opera"
> and larry Semon's "The Wizard of Oz" on WTTW Channel 11 in Chicago on a Saturday
> morning running back-back without any musical accompaniment at all! Every ten
> minutes a subtitle would come up at the bottom of the screen advising viewers that
> "This is a silent movie," presumably to keep anyone from believing they had
> suddenly gone deaf. It was not a very effective introduction to silent film. I
> was wondering at the time why there was no music.
That's very strange. I think the FCC has a regulation that requires TV
stations to broadcast sound with their picture. Several years ago
WHA-TV in Madison, Wisconsin played a silent film and explained that
they felt that the sound track provided with the film was very poor but
the FCC required them to broadcast sound. So they suggested that
viewers turn down and sound and watch the film completely silent.
Ken R
--please remove NOSPAM from address to reply
Ken
Rob Farr & Kathy Lipp-Farr wrote:
>
> I was nine and my parents took me to see "Harold Lloyd's World of
> Comedy". I remember that I was threatened with not going if I didn't
> eat my cheese soup (God, is there really such a thing?). I gagged the
> swill down, and we went to see the movie. I have no recollection of the
> talkie sequences, but have vivid memories of the silents, particularly
> the spider-in-the-pants bit in the "Hot Water" sequence (something a
> 9-year-old can particularly relish).
Ahh, LLoyd is an excellent choice for a first silent film experience!
Lucky you!
My first silent film was shown on a Milwaukee television station
sometime in the mid-60s. I was about ten years old and saw DeMille's
"King of Kings." Most ten year olds would probably find that film
boring but I thought it was great. In high school I discovered a film
collection in the library of a local two-year college. I spent many
happy hours watching 8mm and 16mm prints there.
> I've since seen hundreds of silent movies, but to this day I have never
> eaten another drop of cheese soup!
>
> Rob Farr
>
> PS My 1-year-old son Nicholas has been exposed to silent movies since
> birth. And no, we didn't have a 16mm projector in the delivery room.
But do you feed him cheese soup? ;)
Ken R.
Musei
bu...@home.com wrote:
>
> Musei wrote:
>
> > You may already know that Beau Geste was released in Japan
> > on Laserdisc >>>
>
> our film heritage than we do. Or are there economics involved which
> make it cheap and painless to offer such discs in Japan and not here?
>
> Rich
I'm afraid as far as this series in goes, it had
little to do with an interest in US film heritage.
Further, from a financial point of view, the
whole series sold miserably and that's why although
a third installment was announced, it never saw
the light of day (rare Hayakawa Sessue films, etc.).
As much as it makes me sick to say it, silents
just don't sell to anyone other than an informed/
curious minority. It's sad but seems to be true.
Michael
Jay Schwartz
rfcsa...@aol.com (RFCSAC627N) wrote:
Hey, I have a print of the Kodascope Yosemite film (400' edition) AND
a Kodak sampler reel I found recently. Both of these films are from
the 20s; not silents of sound.
Do you still have yours?
The Yosemite film is really nice, and was made by the federal
government. It starts with a prologue of a woman telling her friends
about her recent vacation and then pulling out a photo album...which
turns to film of the actual place. Is this the one?
Hollywood Film Enterprises also made stag reels, I believe!
----------------------------
Secret Cinema website:
http://www.voicenet.com/~jschwart
Jay Schwartz
srowe...@aol.com (SRoweCanoe) wrote:
> dim recollections of a second cousin showing some films in the early 60s (we
>visited him once - he was halfway accross the country). Didn't the Kinner
>give-a-show projectors have some silent comedies?
Kenner Give-A-Show projectors were slide projectors that showed slides
mounted in a stiff cardboard filmstrip. They included comic book
stars, etc.
They later had an Easy-Show projector that used standard 8mm film in
little proprietary (I think) cartridges. I found one a few years back
at a flea market, with all of the packaging and the two cartridges
that came with it. They were one split reel of Archie & Daffy Duck
cartoons, the other split between George of the Jungle & Tom and
Jerry. In black & white and silent, needless to say. The reels are
very short, probably 25' for each "double feature."
The instructions list the following "Extra Films Available":
Superman & Rocky and Bullwinkle
Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig
Flintstones & Yogi Bear
Moby Dick & Mighty Mightor
Popeye & Alvin and the Chipmunks
Casper The Friendly Ghost & Bozo the Clown
So it seems they were licensing from a variety of studios (and these
would have been top notch selections then -- Archie and George of the
Junge had pretty much just hit the airwaves), but probably never had
any silent-era material.
RFCSAC627N
>From: jsch...@voicenet.com (Jay Schwartz)
>Hey, I have a print of the Kodascope Yosemite film (400' edition) AND
>a Kodak sampler reel I found recently. Both of these films are from
>the 20s; not silents of sound.
>
>Do you still have yours?
Yes, but I haven't look at them in years. I believe my Yosemite film is the
200' version.
>Hollywood Film Enterprises also made stag reels, I believe!
You must be thinking of a different company.
Richard Carnahan
Jay Schwartz
rfcsa...@aol.com (RFCSAC627N) wrote:
>>Hollywood Film Enterprises also made stag reels, I believe!
> You must be thinking of a different company.
> Richard Carnahan
Why do you say that?
RFCSAC627N
>From: jsch...@voicenet.com (Jay Schwartz)
>>>Hollywood Film Enterprises also made stag reels, I believe!
>> You must be thinking of a different company.
>> Richard Carnahan
>
>Why do you say that?
>
>----------------------------
>Secret Cinema website:
>http://www.voicenet.com/~jschwart
>
Well, would a company licensed to sell Disney films....
ScotJohn96
Jay Schwartz said that Kenner "probably never had any silent-era material."
That may be so. But I remember an item that appeared in the toy sections of
Sears Christmas books in the mid-1960s. It was a motorized, 8mm battery-run
projector. I don't think it was made by Kenner. The projector came with
several 25-foot movies; additional films were available. Titles included
"Charlie Chaplin in 'The Champion'" and "Laughing Gas," and Laurel and Hardy in
"Flying Elephant[s]."
I think that Sears offered a Ben Turpin film or two with another toy projector.
I was just getting interested in classic comedies at the time, and these toys
appealed to me. As it turned out, my parents bought me something much better:
A real 8mm/Super 8 projector!
Scott
SRoweCanoe
In article <19980131061...@ladder03.news.aol.com>, scotj...@aol.com
(ScotJohn96) writes:
>That may be so. But I remember an item that appeared in the toy sections
>of
Sears Christmas books in the mid-1960s. It was a motorized, 8mm
>battery-run
projector. I don't think it was made by Kenner. The projector
>came with several 25-foot movies; additional films were available. Titles
>included"Charlie Chaplin in 'The Champion'" and "Laughing Gas," and Laurel
>and Hardy in"Flying Elephant[s]."
AHH! Vague 30 year memory in my mind, of my brother and sister (youngest sister
too young) watching films in the (rather large) closet. I don't remeber the
films (but this might explain why I feel that I've allways known who Chaplin
was).
Steven Rowe
ScotJohn96
I believe that I first saw a silent film on the television program SILENTS
PLEASE, which several members of my family watched regularly. I was three or
four at the time. One night I became curious about the program, and I sat down
to watch one of "those old-time movies."
I don't know what the film was, or how much of it was shown. I remember seeing
a chase on board a speeding train. I also remember thinking that the movie
looked VERY old!
Scott
CultCut
My first was sitting with my Dad on a rainy Saturday and we watched silent
Saturday on PBS. It started out with a bunch of Buster Keaton and Charlie
Chaplin shorts and ended with a double feature of Nosferatu and The Cabinet of
Dr. Caligari. I was about 9 and never forgot it. I do not remember much of
those years but that day sticks clearly in my mind as a very happy memory.
Mark
http://www.concentric.net/~cultcuts
Jay Fenton
I remember Silents Please, too. Oddly enough
I think the host was Ernie Kovacs, who did many silent sequences on his
own show. Remember the Nairobi Trio?
Guess we're both showing our age.
Jay F.